Ontario Year of Manufacture Plate Program - Antique license plates for your classic car

Ontario "Year of Manufacture" License Plate Program
An original article by Antique Car Appraiser Allan Lewis © 2003-2010

The Ontario "Year of Manufacture" plate program is a great initiative that allows you to use antique license plates, 1973 and older, that correspond to the year of your car. Here are instructions on how to take advantage of this program.

Step 1 - Get a Set of Plates

The most important thing to keep in mind is that any matching set of antique plates will not necessarily be useable on your car for this program. Why? The number on the plates may already be in use as a snowmobile registration number or in use on a motorcycle or trailer plate. In my own experience about 80% of the matching plates I owned were not compliant (the number was taken). The toughest are plates with all numbers and no letters.

Before you lay out any money on a set of plates, no matter how nice or how good of a deal, call the Ministry of Transportation to confirm if the number on the plates is available for this program. Call 1-800-387-3445 and follow the prompts to get to a live agent. They can tell you immediately if the number is available. If it is - grab your plates! eBay is a good place to find plates since it gives you time to call the Ministry before bidding (see some current listings below). Another option is Eric's Plates in Ottawa, Ontario. He has very nice sets that are already checked for YOM eligibility.

Step 2 - Get the Plates Approved by the Ministry of Transportation

OK, you've got your plates. You now must send the plates in to the Ministry of Transportation for approval. Send both license plates with the ownership of the car they will be attached to (must be same years). Be sure to take a photocopy of both sides of your ownership to keep with your car in the meantime. There is a $235.25 application fee which must be sent in with the plates. (I knew it was too good to last as a free service!) The fee can be in the form of a cheque or money order payable to the "Minister of Finance". Send everything to the following address by courier (so you can track them);

Ministry of Government Services – ServiceOntario
Kingston Production & Verification Services
Renewals Section
P.O. Box 9700
Kingston, Ontario K7L 5N2

The Ministry will do three things. First they will confirm the number is available. Then they will decide if the condition of the plates is acceptable. The plates must be good original examples or properly restored. Plates that are rusty or repainted poorly or incorrectly (i.e. wrong colours for the year in question) will be rejected. The 1935 plates above will need to be restored before I can send them in. The 1972 plates are probably good enough to use as is. If the plates are accepted they will then be returned to you via registered mail with a letter of acceptance.

Step 3 - Attach the Plates to Your Ownership (and car!)

You now have the plates, your ownership and the letter of approval. Take these in with your original ownership to your nearest MTO office and have them applied to your car. You can now attach them to your car and enjoy the great look of the vintage plates!

The only grey area comes with the validation sticker. Legally it is supposed to be on the top right corner of the plate. Many old plates have embossed lettering there. So what to do? I've seen mini brackets attached to the plate above the area in question or the sticker applied to another part of the plate.

Update January 2011 - Thanks to Vintage Car Connection client Bill P. who dug up the section of the Highway Traffic Act dealing with the validation sticker and it appears that the mini bracket solution is acceptable. Here is part of the section in question;

1(c) evidence of the current validation of the permit is affixed, in the prescribed manner, to,
(i) one of the number plates mentioned in subclause (b) (i) displayed on the vehicle, or
(ii) to a mini-plate attached to the number plate exposed on the rear of the vehicle, if number plates described in subsection (7.2) are displayed on the vehicle.

Here is a link to the whole chapter - Highway Traffic Amendment Act (Historic Vehicles), 2000, S.O. 2000, c. 29 - Bill 99

Keep in mind the validation sticker is the full $74 type with no restrictions. The YOM program is not associated with the Historic Plate program which has a cheaper validation sticker with restrictions.

The Ministry of Transportation finally has its own website detailing this process which can be viewed by clicking here. Please double check the instructions on the Ministry site to ensure they have not made any changes to the program that I am unaware of. If you have run into any problems with this program not mentioned here please let me know so it can be shared with others - Allan@VintageCarConnection.com.

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